the Devil, whom Christ hath conquered and overcome: on which account St. Austin assures us, "that Christ is in the creed termed our Lord, because he hath spoiled our ancient enemy, and hath called us to his particular dominion.”

Baptism doth in its own nature suppose the submission of the baptized person to the dominion and lordship of Christ, it being the, public rite of initiation into his kingdom, and the solemn admission into the number of his, subjects; so that whenever baptism hath been. used, the lordship or dominion of Christ hath been then either implied, or expressly assented to, and owned: from whence it follows, that this article in the creed, whereby Jesus Christ is professed to be Lord, is co-eval with Christianity, and hath been always either expressed or implied at baptism.

After the declaration of our Saviour's divine nature and lordship, the creed descends in the next place to his humanity, affirming him who was named just before his only son our Lord, to be conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary; by that and the following expressions, declaring the reality, certainty and manner of his incarnation; that he who is the son of God, did for us men

and our salvation, become the son of manj not disdaining to take on him the seed of A. braham, and to become in every thing like unto us, sin only excepted, that he might redeem and save us, and in our nature vanquish and overcome the Devil, who had captivated and enslaved us for, as Irenæus observes," the Lord being most kind and merciful, and loving mankind, he united man to God; for if man had not conquered the enemy of man, that enemy would not have been justly overs come even as if God had not given us salvation, we could not have securely enjoyed it; so if man had not been conjoined with God, he could not have been a partaker of incorruption; it behoved therefore the mediator between God and man, by his relation unto both, to reduce them both to amity and concord, and to cause that God should assume man, and that man should give himself to God" so that there was a necessity of the mediator's being really and truly man. "It was through a conquered man, that death descended on the human nature; wherefore it was necessary, as Irenæus remarks, that through a conquering man, that nature should. ascend into life :" and as Lactantius observes, "the mediator was to be an example of virtue; and holiness to his redeemed ones, which he

could not be as God; wherefore he incarnated himself, to shew by his own conquering of the desires of the flesh, that the commission of sin was not necessary, but voluntary, and by his own pattern to encourage and enable us to overcome the lusts thereof,"

For these and several other reasons there, fore, the son of God, out of his amazing and infinite pity to us, became the son of man, not abhorring the Virgin's womb, that he might accomplish his gracious design of redeeming miserable and lost mankind: this is that divine philanthropy, that astonishing effect of his goodness and mercy, which ravishes the holy angels, and caused those harmonious choristers of heaven to sing at his coming into the world that triumphant song, [Luke ii. 14.]" glory be to God in the highest, on the earth peace, and good will towards men." But yet, such is the degenerate and corrupted nature of mankind, that several of them have disbelieved his incarnation, and accounted it a mere fancy and conceit.

I need not here mention any of these in our days, if there be any such, since my design leads me to the consideration of the former times of Christianity, where there are tog numerous spectacles of those who stumbled at

this rock of offence, and from the very age of the apostles rejected this truth of the incarna tion; or, if they did not in words disown it, yet by denying the true way and manner thereof, they did in effect disown it: wherefore, against such a number and variety of heretics, and their diverse methods of assaulting this doctrine, the governors of the church inserted in the creed whatsoever follows from our Saviour's conception to his resurrection; the first clause whereof is, "who was conceiv. ed by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary."

Where the conception and nativity are clearly distinguished, the former being ascribed to the Holy Ghost, and the latter to the Virgin Mary; whereas in the generality of creeds, as in those of Ruffinus, Petrus Chrysologus, Maximus Taurinensis, and others, they are thus coupled together," who was born by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary." Teitullian indeed in one of his creeds, distinctly mentions the "conception of the Holy Ghost, and his birth of the Virgin Mary;" but after him, I do not find that any observed this distinction till St. Austin, who writes,

that in the symbol after our belief in God the father almighty, follows our faith in Jesus Christ his son, who was conceived by the Ho

ly Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ;" but whether they expressed the conception and nativity distinctly or conjunctly, the same thing was intended by all.

⚫ Now the conception of our Saviour by the Holy Ghost, and his being born of such a woman as was a Virgin, was probably designed against the Ebionites, Cerinthians, and such like heretics, who allowed him indeed to be a man, but denied his incarnation in this manner; affirming, that he was conceived and born in the same way and manner as all other men are, in the ordinary way of generation, by the conjunction of Joseph and Mary.

us,

Thus Ebion taught, as Epiphanius informs "that Christ was born of the seed of man," yiz. of Joseph; as did also Carpocrates, who affirmed, "that Christ was not begotten in an extraordinary way by the almighty operation of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of a Virgin, but in the ordinary and common manner, by the two sexes, in Joseph and Mary :" and before either of these, Cerinthus, whose heresy was the occasion of St. John's writing his gospel, vented the same blasphemy, that Jesus Christ being but a mere man, and only excelling in justice, righteousness, and, virtue, was not born of a Virgin, but by the seed of Joseph.

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